Chris in the News: Standing up for striking CN Workers

NATIONAL POST
BUSINESS, Page: E3

Back-to-work law proposed for CN strike
Tories quickly introduce legislation after engineers walk off the job
Scott Deveau, Canwest News Service; Financial Post

The federal government served notice Monday it won't tolerate anything derailing Canada's economic recovery, swiftly introducing back-to-work legislation for 1,700 locomotive engineers at Canadian National Railway Co. less than three days after their strike began.

The engineers, represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, walked off the job at midnight Saturday after the railway attempted to unilaterally impose contract and wage changes on them last week following 14 months of failed labour negotiations--six of which were aided by a federal mediator.

Rona Ambrose, the federal labour minister, indicated just 11 hours after the strike began that she intended to introduce the back-to-work bill Monday, despite CN saying its operations remained "fluid," with few disruptions, as management filled in for the striking workers.

The Conservative government also introduced a motion Monday that would keep the House from adjourning before the matter is resolved once the debate begins. MPs could vote as early as Wednesday.

Maria Minna, the Liberal labour critic, said her party needed more information about the bill and its impact before deciding on whether to support it. But the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP are expected to oppose the legislation.

Chris Charlton, the federal NDP labour critic, called it "preposterous" how quickly the government was willing to enact the legislation.

"Back-to-work legislation should be a last resort," she said in an interview.

"I'm assuming that management clearly believes they have government in their back pocket and that the government is the silent partner at the negotiating table."

She noted that since 1950, Ottawa has implemented back-to-work legislation 32 times, seven of which were related to the rail sector, including the last time such a bill was enacted in April 2007.

At that time, the Harper government forced 2,800 of CN's striking conductors back to work and sent both sides to final-offer arbitration.

CN'sfinal offer was eventually chosen, but the 21-day strike cost the railway an estimated $35 million in lost profit that year, and dragged on Canada's exports of grain, retail goods, lumber, metal and minerals.

Ambrose said Monday the government had moved swiftly on the file because any disruption to CN's network risked derailing the broader economy.

"This is more than a private dispute between CN Rail and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference," she said in a statement. "It has serious repercussions for the national economy at a time when Canada's recovery from the global recession is still fragile."

Shippers reacted favourably to the news, noting that any disruption to CN's network resulting from a prolonged strike would have negative implications.

The Canadian Wheat Board said the strike has slowed grain shipments seriously during the busy post-harvest season and the costs of late shipping penalties could rise to $1 million a day within a couple of weeks.

"It's a very serious situation, especially if it goes on for any length of time," Canadian Wheat Board spokesman John Lyons said.

Douglas Porter, BMO Capital Markets deputy chief economist, estimates a month-long strike could initially reduce the level of real gross domestic product by 0.3 to 0.4 per cent from what it might have otherwise been. He said this loss would likely be rapidly reversed in the subsequent months as the railway worked through its backlog of shipments. Porter cautioned that this was not an insignificant impact with the economy as fragile as it is now.

The main sticking point in the dispute at the railway remains CN's desire to increase the maximum number of miles its engineers can work in a month to 4,300 miles, from 3,800, although wages are also an issue.

Dan Shewchuck, TCRC president, said the union is not interested in raising the mileage cap and was disappointed by how quickly the government stepped in after the strike began.

"It takes our ability to negotiate collective agreements away," he said. "I think (Ottawa) should put some pressure on Canadian National to resolve the issue and to not simply fall into the trap we feel CN has set for them."